Volunteers help pets and people

Sixteen months ago, it seemed unlikely the wolves would be lying down with the lambs. Now they’re working together at St. Clair County Animal Control to the benefit of both taxpayers and the dogs and cats that end up at the shelter.

At the end of 2016, out-of-county activists were trying to take over the shelter, pushing agendas favored neither by the sheriff department, county taxpayers or even local pet advocates. Since then, local volunteers and county officials have worked together to create a team that is making the animal control shelter a healthier, happier place.

Adoptions are up, euthanasia is down, the dogs and cats — according to their advocates — are more comfortable at the shelter and their stays are shorter. With fewer animals coming into the shelter, higher percentages finding new homes, and fewer being euthanized, the new reality is also a plus for taxpayers and the county budget. It just costs less to run a kinder and less busy animal shelter.

It also helps that the Pawsitive Change group is providing lots of free labor, not only with the physical needs of the shelter animals but also with the marketing and networking that is finding new homes for the dogs and cats that end up in the sheriff department’s care.

County residents should thank them for their efforts and their attitudes, both for their efforts on behalf of the animals and for salving our consciences. We are to blame for every animal that ends up in the county’s cages, whether we have abandoned it, realized too late that it was more responsibility than we could manage, failed to train and supervise it properly, or allowed it to be born into a circumstance that didn’t need or didn’t want it.

Dogs and cats will keep ending up in the county animal control shelter as long as people continue to allow them to breed without thought to the future consequences. If everyone were as thoughtful and proactive as the Pawsitive Change volunteers and other local humane groups, we wouldn’t have excess animals or the agencies to take care of them.

We also would not need policies at the animal control shelter that have to balance the welfare of unwanted animals with the costs to taxpayers of operating the service. And the sheriff department has the balance the cost of accepting an animal against the likelihood that a rebuffed pet owner might do something worse with the animal, such as abandon it far from home.

Because everyone is watching, it also needs to be transparent about which animals it euthanizes and why. It should not be blamed for the mistakes of people who did not anticipate being a responsible pet owner would require so much maturity and heart.